Fortran 90

Fortran 90 offers features such as dense matrix and vector operations, automatic memory allocation, operator overloading, optional parameters and more. Fortran 90  also includes all of Fortran77. With these features, programming in Fortran 90 can be made much simpler than in Fortran 77 (or C or C++) while retaining investments done in old Fortran 77 programs.

For more information on Fortran 90, click here or at the F90  FAQ . An on-line course on Fortran 90 is also available. A comprehensive repository on fortran can be found at www.fortran.com/fortran . Also see a page by Ian Chivers and Jane Sleightholme .

Classes in Fortran 90

One of the sources of complexity in efficient programming is programming sparse matrix operations. I am writing a module SPARSEM in Fortran 90 where such programming can be greatly simplified. Please see examples .  SPARSEM includes FSPAK90, an interface to FSPAK, where all memory allocation is automatic and the number of parameters is reduced to absolute minimum.

SPARSEM and associated programs are under active development.  They are  available via anonymous FTP at  nce.ads.uga.edu  or  num.ads.uga.edu   in directory  BLUPF90.
 

Compilers in Fortran 90

While programming F90 , I tried various compilers on various platforms. Many of them had problems. A good compiler is not necessarily the one that has the fewer problems but the one where help is available.  An interesting  comparison of compilers was done for a study on the use of f90 as an object-oriented language.  My experiences  are summarized  here.

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